The article deals with lexical-stylistic features of a travel narrative in the light of the text-forming role of the lexicon illustrated with travel sketches by I. A. Goncharov in “Frigate Pallada”. There were allocated some vocabulary groups, which form the lexical composition of the text, i. e. performing the text-forming function in the sketches. It was found that the implementation of the text-forming function occurs differently: linear or nonlinear way. The vocabulary that implements this function in a linear way includes ethnonyms, toponyms, names of exotic realities, regional language, marine language. Lexical units of these groups are evenly distributed all over the text and form the lexical “core” of the work.

The vocabulary that implements this function in a nonlinear way includes key words of those parts of sketches that contain the author’s conceptual vision of the world image. The vocabulary of both types makes up the sketches’ genre and stylistic originality and reflects two stages of knowledge — observation and reflection.

Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcheglova, Lecturer of the Department of speech communication, St Petersburg State University

E-mail: e.shcheglova@spbu.ru

Индексы

УДК 81’42 ББК 81.2 ГРНТИ 16.21.55 КОД ВАК 10.02.01; 10.02.19

Problem description. Genres change over time, each era expresses itself through its genre forms [Коньков 2011]. Travel sketches can be called one of such era-defining genre forms in the 2nd half of the XIX century: many researchers note a growing interest in journeys in the specified period, this period was marked by emergence of a large number of track (or geographical sketches — in this period they are hardy differentiated) in magazines [Проценко 1984; Покатилова 1989].

The interest in travel literature in general and in sketches in particular can be explained with a number of factors: the growth of national consciousness, the increasing role of scientific knowledge, the educated society’s interest in scientific discoveries (more on the influence of these factors on language processes in the nineteenth century can be found here: [Виноградов 1982; Сорокин 1965]). I. A. Goncharov’s travel sketches “Frigate Pallada” can be considered one of the key texts of this period. At this, the stylistic image of the genre form of this time largely depends on vocabulary, organizing the sketches as a text.

History of the issue. The key property of any test is its integrity [Николаева 2000: 507], provided by the integrity of language units (“the unity of the whole” [Виноградов 1959]). For the first time, a thought about the role of vocabulary in the organization of the text structure (in this case we are talking about a fiction text) seemed to appear in the works of V. V. Vinogradov, who spoke about the need to study the verbal composition of the text as a dynamic system seeking to self-unfold. At the same time, he relied on the concept of “word series”: the text composition is understood as a system of “dynamic deployment of word series in the complex unity of the whole” [Виноградов 1971: 49]. A. I. Gorshkov continued the development of the word series doctrine. He clarifies the definition of word series and defines them as a sequence of “linguistic units of different levels, represented in the text, united by compositional features and their correlation with the particular sphere of language communication or a special means of linguistic expression” [Горшков 1984: 18]. Thus, the definition of “word” should be understood in a wider meaning: “it is not only the vocabulary, lexical series, but also the series of all other language units and unities, that is, the series that can fit into words and be made up of words” [Горшков 2015: 22].

As L. R. Duskaeva states, objectification of a travel in the text requires some demonstration: a) of what is fixed by the traveler’s view — the space of observations’ properties: geographical objects on the water and on land, natural phenomena, phenomena of cultural heritage, traditions of a particular area, including folklore, culinary — observation as the stage of knowledge; b) of the way in which the traveler learns about the space, how he moves around, how he watches, what results he achieves after observing — the phase of reflection on the experience he obtained at the stage of observation [Дускаева 2014].

This defines the variable nature of lexical groups, organizing the text of travel sketches (or word series as V. V. Vinogradov understands it). Part of them is made up of lexical groups, fairly homogeneous in their semantics, without the internal hierarchy of units that make up the group.

At this, the verbal material constituting such word series is evenly distributed in the text, forming a kind of pillar for the text of the work. In other word series, the units are heterogeneous in their structure and semantics, one can highlight the keywords with a large number of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations with other lexical items. In this case, the main conceptual content of the work is concentrated in such word series.

This idea is confirmed by turning to another scientific direction of studying a text as a unity — to the text linguistics. Much attention to lexical material in the classical work was paid by I. R. Gal’perin [Гальперин 1981]. Y. M. Kalinina, who based her analysis of a fiction text composition on the principles of modern linguistic paradigm, distinguishes two groups of compositional components — structural and that of content and idea: “The first group consists of linguistic phenomena which are of direct relevance to the structural organization of the text, which reproduce the chronology of events and describe the environment surrounding the characters (elements of factual and idio-stylistic types). The second group consists of linguistic phenomena, carrying great meaning, which express the ideological position of the characters and the author (elements of ideological and individualized types)” [Калинина 2009: 6].

Referring to the lexical composition of a fiction work, one should obviously talk about different ways of implementing the text forming function of lexics. In one case, when word series constitute the lexical core of the work, the text-forming function is realized linearly; in the other case, when word series are directly related to the ideological content of the work, then it is realized nonlinearly.

Methodology of the study. Analysis of the vocabulary, which performs the text-forming function in I. A. Goncharov’s travel sketches, took place in several stages. At first, we carried out a systematic analysis of the lexical content of the sketches to determine the composition of lexical means, used by the author.

In the second phase, we allocated vocabulary groups, which make up the genre and stylistic originality of the work, we studied their role in the organization of the verbal composition in the work. It was found out that the vocabulary of some groups (word series) is uniformly distributed over the sketches, therefore, it performs the text-forming function linearly. In other cases, the words included in the group (word series), are often used in those passages that reflect the conceptional vision of the author, while the lexemes themselves demonstrate the complexity of the semantics, the plurality of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations. Such lexemes can be considered key ones, and they realize the text-forming function nonlinearly. At the third stage, we carried out the analysis of the selected groups’ usage and their functioning features. The above — mentioned differences among the selected groups caused the difference in the research approach. The groups of lexics, which fulfill the text-forming function linearly, were analyzed without doing any analysis of specific lexical units’ occurrences. We highlighted common features of the use and operation, typical of the group. In the case of vocabulary, which implements the text-forming function nonlinearly, the main research objective was a detailed description of these words’ semantics, which required a careful study of the usage contexts, the system of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations.

Material analysis. The groups implementing the text forming function linearly include names of exotic realities, regional language, maritime language, toponyms and ethnonyms. These groups are united in sketches due to the similarities of functioning and peculiarities of their use. The system of author’s interpretations and explanations of lexical units from these groups confirms their special role in the “Frigate” sketches. The vocabulary becomes a kind of core of the sketches’ texts, fulfilling the text-forming function linearly. While analyzing the words associated with the conceptual content of the sketches, it was found that the ethnonyms, toponyms, and toponymically-produced adjectives used in most cases in direct nominative meanings, in some cases, may form word series, in which the composing lexemes demonstrate the changes in semantics, the acquisition of new historical and cultural connotative meanings. The words of these word series form the ideological fabric of the sketches, thus, implementing the text-forming function nonlinearly.

The fact that these groups of toponyms are present on the sketches’ pages devoted to the description of a round-the-world trip, seems quite obvious and predictable. They serve to indicate the position of the ship, the expedition members and the author on the world map at the moment of speech, in the past and in the future. An important role is played by the deictic vocabulary here:

The author pays much attention to the accuracy of the toponyms’ use, in the case there are several variable and equivalent names of the same geographical object, the author gives them all to the reader. This is especially true in cases when along with the original title, there are one or several names in European languages, which became the result of colonialists’ activities: “First river in English or Erst river (the first river) in Dutch,” — Vandyke replied («Ферст-ривер по-английски или Эршт-ривер (первая река) по-голландски», — отвечал Вандик) [Ibid.: 177].

In this case, the author gives two foreign-language names — English and Dutch — and then Russian translation. Such a use has a historical-cultural background, because the territory of the Cape colony in Africa was originally under the Dutch colonial rule, which was changed into English later. In some cases, when Goncharov presents a unique, exotic name, not the Europeans’ given one, the author provides a kind of “etymological” reference, adds some reflections on the “right” name: Koreans call themselves, or their country, Chaosin or Chausin, and the name of Korea belongs to one of their ancient dynasties (Корейцы называют себя, или страну свою, Чаосин или Чаусин, а название Корея принадлежит одной из их старинных династий) [Ibid.: 617].

Ethnonyms play a similar role in the designation of the journey geography. Names of various tribes and peoples are often given in everyday contexts to describe daily life and often appear in the same row with other lexical units, which are the names of the tribes and their representatives: Here is a tall handsome negro, Fingo or Mozambique, dragging bales on his shoulders; this is a “kuli” — a hired servant, a porter, running errands; here is another one, from the tribe of Zulu, and most often a Hottentot, deftly manages a pair of horses, harnessed in a convertible. There the third one, a bitchuan, leads a saddle horse; the fourth sweeps the street, raising the red-yellow dust (Вот стройный, красивый негр, финго или мозамбик, тащит тюк на плечах; это «кули» — наемный слуга, носильщик, бегающий на посылках; вот другой, из племени зулу, а чаще готтентот, на козлах ловко управляет парой лошадей, запряженных в кабриолет. Там третий, бичуан, ведет верховую лошадь; четвертый метет улицу, поднимая столбом красно-желтую пыль) [Ibid.: 140]; We raced along the village, now filled with crowds of people, mostly Tagalog and Chinese, partially mestizos: all these people were going to work or from work; others seemed to be just happy with the coming cool weather and came out of their homes to walk, they were walking along the shops, stood in crowds and talked (Мы промчались по предместью, теперь уже наполненному толпами народа, большею частию тагалами и китайцами, отчасти также метисами: весь этот люд шел на работу или с работы; другие, казалось, просто обрадовались наступавшей прохладе и вышли из домов гулять, ходили по лавкам, стояли толпами и разговаривали) [Ibid.: 534].

The exotic realities’ names were grouped along thematic lines basing on the unity of their use and functioning in the sketches minding the author’s position regarding this language. The term “reality” here describes a fairly wide range of objects and phenomena of the local environment, perceived by the author as an integral part of the exotic reality, in which he abides during the journey. These are the names of natural phenomena and objects (plants: kakisy (какисы), tangerines (мандарины); animals: babwani (бабуан), shrimps (шримсы)) and cultural realities proper (norimoni (норимоны), saki (саки), jonka (джонка)). Names of exotic realities are an important part of the narrative about places visited by I. A. Goncharov together with the “Pallada” crew during the voyage, creating the necessary historical and cultural context: I was walking among the European houses and Chinese huts, among the ships and jonkas, between the Christian churches and the pagan temples (Я гулял между европейскими домами и китайскими хижинами, между кораблями и джонками, между христианскими церквами и кумирнями) [Idid.: 603]. Contrast is provided by means of enumeration of homogeneous objects pairs: each pair is formed by two nouns with a specific subject value, describing the realities belonging to different cultural codes (a house — a hut, a ship — a jonka, churches — temples).

Like the ethnonyms and toponyms, names of exotic realities reflect the geography of the journey because their composition changes with the change of the place of stay. A characteristic feature of their use is the presence of metalinguistic elements that serve to explain to the reader what the object or phenomenon is hidden behind the unknown or the little-known name: curry served every day everywhere from the Cape of Good Hope to China, especially in India; it is beef or other meat, sometimes chicken, paltry, finally, even crayfish and especially shrimps cut in small pieces and cooked with a pungent sauce that is made up of ten or more Indian peppers. Moreover, this is served with some special, almost poisonous soy, after which the dish got its name. Specially cooked in the same water rice is served as a necessary belonging to it (карри, подаваемое ежедневно везде, начиная с мыса Доброй Надежды до Китая, особенно в Индии; это говядина или другое мясо, иногда курица, дичь, наконец, даже раки и особенно шримсы, изрезанные мелкими кусочками и сваренные с едким соусом, который составляется из десяти или более индийских перцев. Мало того, к этому подают еще какую-то особую, чуть не ядовитую сою, от которой блюдо и получило свое название. Как необходимая принадлежность к нему подается особо варенный в одной воде рис) [Ibid.: 143]. As can be seen from the above-given example, such meta-text inserts are of a purely personal nature and are usually full of speech means expressing the author’s assessment of the object or reality phenomenon he saw. The author often compares the unknown with the known, which is an appeal to the reader’s cultural memory: there were also the so-called in English custard-apples, the fruit, looking like both pears and apples, with white flesh with black seeds (еще были тут называемые по-английски кастард-эппльз (custard apples) плоды, похожие видом и на грушу, и на яблоко, с белым мясом, с черными семенами) [Ibid.: 98].

Regional vocabulary is present in the final “Siberian” sketches of “Frigate Pallada”. Its functioning and usage specifics are in many ways similar to the vocabulary related to the names of exotic realities. Goncharov pays extraordinary attention to regional words, which he learnt directly from his lively conversations with the locals, thus giving the readers a wealth of material. For example, a description of the povarnya (поварня, ‘an empty hut, designed for relaxation and travellers’ overnight stay’) full of irony: Hence it is a quasi-povarnya. If you want to make it a real povarnya, bring your own cook, some provision as well, and sometimes some wood to the place where there is no forest; don’t forget to bring some fire too (Следовательно, это quasi-поварня. Если хотите сделать ее настоящей поварней, то привезите с собой повара, да кстати уж и провизии, а иногда и дров, где лесу нет; не забудьте взять и огня) [Ibid.: 686] and the imagery of the verb curzhevet’ (куржеветь): only eyebrows, eyelashes, mustache, and others have a beard, can curzhevet’, that is cover with ice, so strongly that eyebrows grow together with lashes, the mustache — with the beard and they form an ice visor on the face (только брови, ресницы, усы, а у кого есть и борода, куржевеют, то есть покрываются льдом, так что брови срастаются с ресницами, усы с бородой и образуют на лице ледяное забрало) [Ibid.: 698], etc.

Marine vocabulary not just creates the colouring of marine life (in this case, such a degree of sketches’ being saturated with nautical words would not be required), but also fulfils an educational function (like in the case of exotic realities and regional vocabulary examples). The author introduces the reader to the peculiarities of marine life and the language that these features reflect. It should be noted that the author provides the following as proper naval terms: mizzen-mast (бизань-мачта), topsail (марселя), sailing system (парусная система),mainsheet (шкот), etc. He also gives some professional jargon: whaler (китолов, ‘a whale hunting ship’), merchant (купец, a ship, carrying trade items), etc. The author also gives the lexical units, which he heard in simple sailors’ speech: aseyi (асеи, ‘English people’), bratishka (братишка, a word they address each other with), fordak (фордак, ‘a jibe’).

I. A. Goncharov illustrates the words related to marine vocabulary with explanations designed to bring the incomprehensible phenomenon closer to the usual reader whose life is far from sea: Squalls came: squalls are when you sit in the country house, suspecting nothing, with the windows open. The suddenly your balcony is attacked by wind, it bursts inside with dust through the window, shatters glass, knocks the pots, slams the shutters, when people are usually late to hurry to shut the windows, to remove flowers, meanwhile, the rain had enough time to pour onto the furniture, onto the floor. Now this situation is repeated here every half an hour (Начались шквалы: шквалы — это когда вы сидите на даче, ничего не подозревая, с открытыми окнами, вдруг на балкон ваш налетает вихрь, врывается с пылью в окна, бьет стекла, валит горшки с цветами, хлопает ставнями, когда бросаются, по обыкновению поздно, затворять окна, убирать цветы, а между тем дождь успел хлынуть на мебель, на паркет. Теперь это повторяется здесь каждые полчаса) [Ibid.: 67]. The reality of marine life, unusual for the reader, ignorant in naval matters, is placed into a situation familiar to everybody; the “approaching effect” is also supported by I. A. Goncharov’s direct addressing his reader (you sit in the country house), which is another characteristic feature of the sketches.

Observing life in different parts of the world, its conceptual comprehension is the ideological content of the sketches — words that have become crucial for these fragments of sketches, form the group of vocabulary, which implements the text-forming function nonlinearly. A word series with the English ethnonym the English and the adjective English turned out to be the most demonstrative in this respect concerning a number of extralinguistic reasons. It is associated with such key words as comfort (комфорт), convenience (удобство), civilization (цивилизация), trade (торговля), practicality (практичность) etc. One should mind the fact that the keywords, forming a word series, are associated with the image of the British in the Russian culture, which is illustrated by the analysis of texts used as comparative material.

Cultural and historical component of the meaning is of a particular importance in the semantics of these words. Thus, the meaning of the word comfort actualized in various contexts of the work contains a seme ‘novelty’, for example: It is easy to guess that the owners (of the hotel in the Cape colony in Africa. — E. S.) were English: the furniture is new, everything is fresh and full of signs of comfort (Нетрудно догадаться, что хозяевабыли англичане: мебель новая, всё свежо и везде признаки комфорта) [Ibid.: 177].

This was due to the English dominance of the time in the world economy — it is this country, which owned the most advanced production technologies of consumption goods (as they would be called now). That is why a comfortable way of life meant using all these inventions in daily life: After that, reserved and confident, that he (the Englishman. — E. S.) lived this day with all conveniences, that he saw a lot wonderful, that he’s got a duke (Wellington. — E. S.) and steamed chickens, that he sold a party of paper blankets on the stock exchange, and his voice — in the Parliament, he sits down to eat and leaving the table not quite steadily, hangs non-opening locks to the closet and the bureau, removes his boots with a machine, sets the alarm clock and goes to bed (После того, покойный сознанием, что он прожил день по всем удобствам, что видел много замечательного, что у него есть дюки паровые цыплята, что он выгодно продал на бирже партию бумажных одеял, а в парламенте ― свой голос, он садится обедать и, встав из-за стола не совсем твердо, вешает к шкафу и бюро неотпираемые замки, снимает с себя машинкой сапоги, заводит будильник и ложится спать) [Ibid.: 61].

With the change in the position of Great Britain on the world stage, the nature of the word comfort (комфорт) usage has changed when used addressing the Albion residents. It can be seen in cultural descriptions of England of the XX and XXI centuries, in which English comfort is described as the addiction of the English to the old, familiar things, sometimes passing from generation to generation (close to the concepts “patriarchy”, “patriarchal” according to Goncharov) [Овчинников 1987; Паксман 2009].

Another interesting example is the ratio of the volume of the terms “trade” and “life”, which are expressed by the corresponding lexical units in the following contexts, creating the image of the English capital: Meanwhile, the overall impression produced by London exterior view, with its circulation of population, is strange: there are up to two million inhabitants, it is the world trade center, –but why do you think life, its rapid fermentation, is so unnoticeable. Trade is visible, but there is no life: or you should conclude that the trade is life here, as it is, in fact (Между тем общее впечатление, какое производит наружный вид Лондона, с циркуляциею народонаселения, странно: там до двух миллионов жителей, центр всемирной торговли, а чего бы вы думали не заметно? — жизни, то есть ее бурного брожения. Торговля видна, а жизни нет: или вы должны заключить, что здесь торговля есть жизнь, как оно и есть в самом деле) [Гончаров 1997: 48].

The lexemes expressing the concept of “life” and “trade” are largely presented as contextual antonyms (opposed as a part and the whole). Moreover, they are concepts, which are mutually exclusive. Contrasting between these two concepts is expressed in this context by contrasting attributes of life in London and life in a general sense: population circulation (циркуляция народонаселения) — rapid fermentationof life (бурное брожение жизни). The word circulation (циркуляция) has the following definition in Dahl’s dictionary: ‘turning, rotation’; compatibility presented in the glossary is important — blood circulation (циркуляция крови) [Даль, IV]. Thus, terminology is important; regular, mechanistic nature of the movement means much. The word fermentation (брожение) is explained in the dictionary of 1847 in its general meaning: ‘the same as moving”, i. e. ‘walking there and back’ in its special meaning: ‘In chemistry: inside movement that occur in organic solids and in liquids containing organic parts by means of ferment: wine, spirit movement’ [Словарь… 1847, I].

Y. S. Sorokin notes that such combinations as mind fermentation (брожение ума) are usual in the 30-ies of the XIX century. Here, associations with chemical ideas are obvious and often accentuated in these contexts [Сорокин 1965: 410]. In this context, it is important to emphasize spontaneity, randomness of this kind of movement. The final part of I. A. Goncharov’s argumentation is to convince the reader that the concepts are of equal volume. The word trade (торговля) takes on the meaning ‘a comprehensive activity, leveling all other aspects of life’.

The results of the study. Analysis of the lexical material of travel sketches by I. A. Goncharov in “Frigate Pallada” has demonstrated a special role of lexical means in their textual organization. We discovered the groups (word series), the component units of which form the verbal composition of sketches, thereby fulfilling the text-forming function.

The implementation nature of the text-forming functions of different word series’ vocabulary is different. Some of them are formed by units, which are evenly distributed all over the text, seal it and make it the whole. Thus, the units of these groups become a kind of lexical axis around which the work is created. These are the names for exotic realities, regional language, maritime language, toponyms and ethnonyms. Among these groups’ lexical units’ usage features, especially noteworthy is a network of metalinguistic elements (author’s interpretations and explanations), with which I. A. Goncharov supplies a significant part of lexical units belonging to those groups (on specifics of little-known and unknown nominations’ explanations in I. A. Goncharov’s works — [Щеглова 2014]).

Another characteristic feature of these groups’ lexical units’ use is introducing several names or equivalent names. The fact of the author’s attention to this language speaks of its role in the sketches. The pattern of this vocabulary use shows the stage of observation in the process of understanding the world. Such lexical units are implementing the text-forming function linearly.

Other word series are formed by the units, which are key ones for those fragments of sketches in which the author presents his vision of the world. Hence the extraordinary semantic load of these words, is expressed in the presence of diverse shades of meaning, but also of historical, cultural and evaluative connotative meanings.

They reflect the next step in the process of learning — understanding. The words of this lexical series form the ideological fabric of the sketches, that is, implement the text-forming function nonlinearly.

Conclusion. Thus, I. A. Goncharov’s travel sketches being definitely some of the best examples of travel sketches of his time — reflect all the contradiction in the human perception of the world and of person’s self in this world, typical of this period, with its rapid processes in all spheres of society. This is what the need to study words as a carrier of historical and cultural memory is explained with.

The results of this study show the necessity of studying journalistic texts of different periods from different linguistic and stylistic perspectives: scientific prospects of such a diachronic approach also aiming at comprehension of modern media texts are proven by T. Y. Red’kina’s works in the sphere of modern travel texts studying [Редькина 2011; 2015].

The dictionary of Church Slavonic and Russian language, compiled by the second branch of the Imperial Academy of Sciences [Slovar’ cerkovno-slavyanskogo i russkogo yazyka, sostavlennyj Vtorym otdeleniem imperatorskoj Akademii nauk]. St Petersburg, 1847.